Thanks. Had this in 128kbps for like, forever. Soundtrack of this quality definitely deserved better.

Very much agreed. To be honest, the lowest bit-rate anyone should ever use for MP3 encoding is 160kbps in order to preserve just a bit more of the higher sound frequencies required for cleaner sound at a frequency of either 32kHz, 44kHz or 48kHz. I use no less than 192kbps and always VBR encoding. The level of quality I encode at makes lossless encoding completely unneeded.

You're very welcome. This is one of my top favorite VGM soundtracks as well. The only problem is that 5 or so tracks from the game were omitted from the OST release (IE: The Dark Rift). I'm probably gonna end up ripping them from my Gamecube myself in the coming weeks. I'll supplement this thread with the missing tracks when I get a chance.

To be honest, the lowest bit-rate anyone should ever use for MP3 encoding is 160kbps in order to preserve just a bit more of the higher sound frequencies required for cleaner sound at a frequency of either 32kHz, 44kHz or 48kHz. I use no less than 192kbps and always VBR encoding. The level of quality I encode at makes lossless encoding completely unneeded.

I wouldn't say this without doubts. Lossless is very important for:

1) Those with powerful sound systems (headphones/speakers, amp, sound card, software, etc.)*.
2) Those who want to edit the songs into a megamix or DJ mix. Or even a simple edit.
3) Those who like to convert to whatever format they like.

Although, I will say it really is a bit of an elite thing right now to provide lossless, because of the file size. (That won't matter as much in the future. But it isn't the future yet. Yet there's still the 3 points to consider.)

*This applies more with high-quality sounds, so I don't think much Skies of Arcadia music would sound better in lossless unless one has a thousand-/multi-thousand-dollar setup. (Even then I'm not sure, since I've had no direct experience). For songs with super-mature sound, like what artists like Aphex Twin use, I've been able to tell a difference using my $300 headphone/soundcard setup (+ foobar2000 with surround and other DSPs). I suppose this is all merely my view, but I'm certain it sounded a little better. Anyway, #1 is the least important reason for the majority of people.